UNLIKE the song New York, New York which was so good they named it twice, the newly restyled ParisLongchamp has been the subject of much negative comment following last week’s running of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

If the week got off to a miserable start for the team, it got worse when it was announced by France Galop that the final three fixtures of the year, all this month, will be staged at other courses owing to difficulties with the racing surface. This has been a problem all year. The middle of the three transferred meetings, which will now be run at Chantilly and Saint-Cloud, includes the Group 1 Criterium International for two-year-olds and the Group 1 Prix Royal-Oak.